Many hotels deal with Travel Wholesalers (JTB, JacTravel, Tourico, Jonview etc...) that hold blocks of rooms for an extended period of time, or season. Typically the blocks are held on a daily basis throughout the season, and use a cutoff period where rooms that are not picked up by the Wholesaler are automatically released. The following article explains how to set up a Wholesaler Account in the PMS.
Step 1: Create Account
To create a Wholesaler, go to Operations > Wholesaler to open the Wholesaler module. On the General tab, click Add to create a new Account, and input the following information:
- Type – this area will remain blank
- ID – enter a 5-7 character abbreviation for the Wholesaler
- Name – enter the name of the Wholesaler Account
- Contact – enter the main contact name for this Wholesaler Account
- Street Address – enter in the street address
- Postal Code – enter in the postal code (for Canada and the US, entering the postal/zip code and hitting Tab will automatically populate the associated City and State/Province)
- Folio number (Rm&Tx Charges) – Select Folio 1 if the guest is responsible for paying their own charges. Select Folio 8 if the wholesaler (or a 3rd party) is paying for room and taxes
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Has City Account (Optional) – check this box to attach a City Account to this Wholesaler Account
- City Account – if the City Account already exists in the City Ledger, use the City Account drop down menu to search for it. If the City Account does not yet exist, check the box next to Create a New Account, then type the name of the account and desired Credit Limit into this area. Once the information is saved, it will automatically create the City Account in the City Ledger Module.
- Credit Limit – if an existing City Account is selected from the drop down menu, the Credit Limit field with auto populate with it's current credit limit. If a City Account is being manually entered at this time, the Credit Limit that applies to the City Account will also need to be manually entered here. NOTE: The Credit Limit should always be enough to cover all charges that are expected to be transferred to the City Ledger upon check-out.
- Create a New Account – Only check this box if the City Account being attached to this Wholesaler does not already exist in the City Ledger Module (and a new one is being created at this time). Checking this box creates a new City Ledger Account in the City Ledger Module by typing the City Account name into the Bill To area, and entering the desired credit limit into the Credit Limit area.
- Use Account Information – if an existing City Account was selected from the drop down menu, check this box to have the main address information from that City Ledger Account copied into this Wholesaler Account's address info
- Telephone/ Business Number/Fax/Email – contact information for Wholesaler (only Telephone is mandatory)
- Date Created – this date will automatically populate after the Wholesaler Account is created
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Attach Rates from Client Type (Optional) – There are two options when it comes to attaching rates to a Wholesaler Account; Attach a generic rate from a Client Type, or attach a specific Rate Plan directly to the Wholesaler Account:
- To attach generic rates from a Wholesaler Client Type to this Wholesaler Account, check the Attach Rates from Client Type box and use the drop down menu to select the desired Client Type. If generic Wholesaler Rates are being used for this Wholesaler Account, this speeds up the process of attaching rates. Therefore, if we select to attach rates from the Wholesaler Client Type, all rates associated with the Wholesaler Client Type will then be attached to this Wholesaler Account.
- To attach a specific Rate Plan to this Wholesaler Account (where a unique Rate Plan was created specifically for this Wholesaler Account) do not check this box. In this case, the Rate would be attached under the Rates tab. Continue to Step 2 to learn how to attach a specific rate plan to a specific Wholesaler Account.
- Tag (Optional) - Use the drop down menu to select the desired tag
Click Post to create the Wholesaler Account.
Step 2: Rates Tab
If a specific rate has been created for a Wholesaler Account it can be attached to the Wholesaler Account using the Rates tab.
To attach a rate, first select the Room Type from the drop down menu.
NOTE: If the rates were attached via the Attach Rates from Client Type method in Step 1, do not fill out the Rates tab.
- Find the desired rate under the Available Rates column on the right.
- Using the arrow, move the selected rate to the Attached Rates column on the left.
Once the rate plan has been moved to the Attached Rates column, use the drop down menu below to select the rate as the Default Rate. When done, click Post to save. Repeat these steps until all applicable Room Types have the appropriate Rate Plan(s) attached.
NOTE: If you attaching more than one Rate Plan to a Wholesaler Account, the default rate should be the rate that is most commonly used (or appears first by default).
Step 3: Creating Blocks
The next step in creating a Wholesaler is to assign a block to the Wholesaler Account.
Proceed to the Blocks tab. Within the Blocks tab there are two sub-tabs; Description and Block Holds. The Description tab must be filled out before moving on to the Block Holds.
Click Add.
The maximum block length is 6 months.
Fill in the following information:
- Date From – the date the wholesaler block begins
- Date To – the date the wholesaler block ends
- Block Type – select if the Wholesaler Block will be Solid (the rooms are taken out of inventory) or Transparent (the rooms are not taken out of inventory)
- Cut-off Days – the number of days before arrival the block begins release (by setting the number of days here the block will automatically release according to the settings)
- Cut-off Type – select if the Wholesaler Block is to be released by Whole Block (the entire block will be released on the selected date) or by One Day (the block will release one day at a time beginning with the first date set in the cut off days)
Click Post to save changes.
Next, proceed to the Block Holds area to input the number of rooms that you wish to designate for this Wholesaler Account.
Block Holds
Next, proceed to the Block Holds area to input the types and quantities of rooms to be held for this Wholesaler Account.
When first opened, the Block Holds will display all room types, the start and end dates of the block, and how many rooms are being held for each. In the below example, no rooms are currently being held, as 0 is displayed under the Holds column.
To set up a block, click Amendment to open the Block Amendments window.
Click Insert to add specific Room Types to the block (most common method)
OR
Click Insert All to add all Room Types to the block (only use this method if at least 1 of every Room Type in the property is being held)
In this example, we are clicking Insert to add Room Types to the block, one at a time.
Click the drop down menu under Room Type to add a Room Type to the block.
- With the correct Room Type selected, choose the desired Date From and Date To, and the number of rooms to hold for that period under Holds.
- Click Post to save
Repeat this process for any other Room Types that need to be added to the block.
Once all Room Types and Blocks have been added, we can see them listed in the Block Amendments main screen.
Amending the Block
On occasion, the original block totals may need to be amended at a later time, either adding to, or decreasing the holds. There are two options available in the Block Holds screen; Hold Override, and Availability.
To understand how these options work, consider this. We have 1 room in block, and it has been picked up, so our remaining block is now 0.
- Hold Override - Using this option, we enter 5 rooms. This means the block is now 5 in total, the pickup is 1, and the remaining block is now 4. (Overrides the original block numbers. Any picked up rooms will be included in the new block and deducted from the total).
- Availability - Using this option, we enter 5 rooms. They add on to the original block of 1 room, creating a block of 6. Because the original 1 room was picked up, we are now left with a remaining block of 5. (Adds on to the original block. Any picked up rooms are added to the new block total).
Once the block has been entered, proceed to the Inventory tab to confirm the block holds by looking under the BLK column. Be sure the Display For date is set for the start of the block. (Tip: if the start of the block is within the cutoff time from the current day, the first days of the block may not show held inventory as they would have already been released).
The Wholesaler setup is now complete.
